In the top photo, the bull watches as two of his charges make their escape. His harem is beginning to fall apart. The lower photo gives a better idea of the scale of the scene as the cow and her calf wade past my camp, with the geyser basin on the other side of the bay.

The challenger bull is in the timber by the lakeshore next to the geyser basin, still working hard to win the harem over.

Man, you couldn't buy an experience like this for any amount of money, but it's just another day in the wild backcountry of Yellowstone. Life just doesn't get any better than this.